


Christmas Lights

by shieldivarius



Series: Christmas Roommate Stories [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash Yuletide, Fluff, Prompt: Christmas Lights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-16
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2018-01-04 20:44:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1085500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shieldivarius/pseuds/shieldivarius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She and Natasha were putting up the lights because Barton had disappeared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Lights

Barton had pulled three strands of Christmas lights out of the very back of his closet, and it came as no surprise to any of them that not only were all three tangled beyond all reason, but only one of the three still worked.

Just their luck, too, that the functional one was also the most tangled of the three.

Barton, either actually holding strong belief in his determination to have all three strands of lights, or just not wanting to get stuck untangling the working strand to make it usable, had taken off to the store, leaving Melinda and Natasha sitting side-by-side on the couch in Natasha and Barton’s tiny little shared apartment and staring at the festive tangle on the floor.

“I’ll do it if you really don’t want to,” Melinda said, finally giving in to the stalemate and sliding down onto the floor to set to untangle the lights. She combed through the strand until she found the end and began the painstaking work of detangling it without rendering it useless as well.

“Thank you,” Natasha said, a smile in her voice. She stood and crossed the room, a box of small nails in hand, and pulled the chair they’d brought over from the kitchen closer to the wall.

“How did we end up decorating when Barton’s the one who wants the lights?” Melinda asked.

Natasha snorted. “He took off and the last thing I want is him hammering nails into the wall when I’m trying to sleep.” She stood up on the chair, pencil in hand, and made marks along the wall a couple of inches below the ceiling. “Pass the hammer?”

Melinda grabbed the hammer from the end table nearest her and handed it over to Natasha, who held three nails between her lips and another in her hand. She nodded her thanks and started knocking the nails into the wall.

Melinda sat back down and returned to the mess of Christmas lights. “Maybe we should decorate my apartment,” she said after a moment.

Natasha half turned, looking down at Melinda over her shoulder. “If you’d like,” she said. “But where did that come from? You’ve never been interested in the holiday before.”

That was true, and even now Melinda didn’t have interest in the holiday so much as interest in spending time with Natasha without Barton being around. And she supposed she enjoyed the warmth and brightness the decorations brought to the space, almost as much as the thought of spending another evening with this view of Natasha’s butt in those jeans.

“I thought it might be fun,” Melinda hedged. 

Natasha banged the last nail in her hand into the wall. “That should be another for the first strand, at least,” she said as though Melinda hadn’t spoken. She hopped down from the chair. “How are those coming?”

The detangled portion of the lights was wound around one of Melinda’s hands and halfway up her arm. The more-than-half of the string that remained still sat in a messy pile.

“Getting there.” Maybe it was better f they allowed the holiday decoration to be Barton’s quirk.

“If you want to put some lights up, Mel, I’ll help,” Natasha said. She crossed to the kitchen as she spoke. A moment later, she returned holding two bottles of beer by the necks between her fingers. “I’m just surprised.” 

She handed Melinda one of the bottles and they clinked the necks together in a silent toast, each wearing a tiny smile, before taking a sip.

“I’ll get a few decorations this week,” Melinda said, feeling a little as though she’d been dared into following through.

“It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> http://shieldivarius.tumblr.com


End file.
